I Know You Will
by padfoot's prose
Summary: Elizabeth can barely remember her mother, and sixteen years after her death she is struggling to pull together the scattered fragments of memories. The only thing holding her together is knowing that Will will always keep her safe. Elizabeth/Will oneshot


**I'm new to PotC fanfics, so I'm not sure if this is any good in comparison. Please tell me if it is/isn't, and if there are any little PotC things that I should take note of.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Pirates of the Caribbean I wouldn't be writing on this website. I'd be madly texting Orlando Bloom stupid pointless messages just so I could brag to people that I've talked to Orlando Bloom (which, P.S., I haven't). So obviously I don't own Disney... it'd be really cool if I did though.**

**By the way, the title is not in any way referring to Will Turner, it's just the only word that fit. I just thouht I'd point that out.**

**_I Known You Will_**

Elizabeth sat at the foot of the stairs, her eyes fixed wearily on the closed door across the room. Her chest rose and fell slightly as she breathed, and she blinked from time to time, but apart from that she made no movement whatsoever. No sign of getting up and going to her room, no sign of lying down and sleeping, she didn't even slouch after sitting virtually straight for the last hour; she was waiting.

Her father stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at his daughter. Today was a Saturday – usually the day when he'd attend a ceremony or special occasion at the fort – but everyone knew today was different from every other Saturday. This Saturday marked the day sixteen years ago when his wife had left him and Elizabeth. This day was the one day when neither he nor Elizabeth would leave their house. Both spent all day sitting still and remembering, no talking or communicating, virtually no eating; today they mourned. It wasn't exactly a custom or a rule that they did nothing- it was just how the day always turned out. Both would wake up before sunrise, and spend all morning lying in their beds thinking, remembering the days when she'd been there. During the day they might wander the house, not taking anything in or doing anything, still thinking. All day they were like ghosts, mere presences rather than real people to the housemaids and cooks.

To Elizabeth her mother was all but a shadow; a comforting voice or a lullaby's tune, an echo of a person who once existed but no longer did. To her father she was more. To him she was a person, a tall beautiful woman with golden hair and sharp brown eyes. To him she had a scent, a touch, a sound, a taste, all that he'd long forgotten. In his memory she wasn't the sick woman trying desperately to care for her child until death caught up with her; she was a young, spirited woman with shimmering eyes and a soft smile. She was a laugh, a brush of soft skin against his, a light floral perfume, a sweet flavour; she was the woman he married, not the one he slowly watched decay before his eyes before all that she once was disappeared into nothingness and a forlorn reflection of her remained.

Stepping away from the banister, Governor Swann slowly began back to his room. Entering the usually light, airy space he was instantly reminded of his wife's last days, her last hours of her precious life. Those last moments that could've been filled with love and longing, were instead a time of pain and suffering for her. She'd been covered in sores as her disease slowly overwhelmed her body, her thin form had been laid out on a table, the nearest surface at the time of her collapse, and she'd spent her last hours crying out in agony until she was suffocated by her own screams. Never would anyone ever forget that cold winter's night.

Elizabeth shivered as the sound of rain hitting the roof echoed through the foyer, the darkness seeping in through the windows complementing the atmosphere of loss and grief. Her eyes glazed over as the remembered sounds of a woman's scream rang through her head, each new one a dagger stabbing her from the inside. Her eyes prickled, then glazed over as tears dripped out of them, falling down her cheeks and splattering onto the floor below her, each drop of water clearing a patch of dust. She felt the tears begin dropping to her neck, running in thin trails onto her nightdress that she still wore despite the late hour. Somewhere in the back of her mind came the idea to brush her tears away, but that idea quickly disappeared beneath all of the other confused thoughts spinning through her mind.

A knock sounded on the thick wooden door, and Elizabeth looked up from the pools of tears on the floor around her. The butler swiftly entered the room and peered out a small window, checking who was at the door. Withdrawing his head from the window, he turned the knob and let the door swing open. Elizabeth let out a strangled cry as the person at the door was revealed. Standing at the doorway, drenched from head to toe from the rain outside, Will Turner hurried inside when he saw Elizabeth, instantly crouching to her level and drawing his arms around her mourning form. The butler closed the door silently and left he room, leaving the couple in their embrace, Elizabeth still crying silently into her fiancé's shoulder.

Whispering words of comfort to Elizabeth, Will drew her closer, keeping both arms firmly wrapped around her quivering waist as she jolted slightly with each new sob. She slowly raised her arms to around him, barely noticing how wet he was as his warmth and comfort enveloped her.

"I thought you'd never come…" she managed to sob out, the words sounding desperate and lonely.

"How could I not come?" he murmured in response, moving one of his hands to hers, resting on his shoulder and clasping her delicate hand in his. "I wouldn't leave you."

Elizabeth swallowed as she hear the sincerity of her words, he didn't deserve her in a state like this, not after all that he'd for her – for them.

"I know," she answered softly, turning her head so it was pressing into the crook of his neck. Briefly pressing her lips against he warm skin of his neck, Elizabeth let herself sink further into his arms.

Will felt a numbing tingle run through his body as her lips grazed his neck, warming him more effectively than anything else could. He shifted so that he was sitting beside her on the steps and let her fall completely into his arms, trusting him to keep her from getting hurt.

"Keep me safe until it's over. Until today is finished and I'll never need to think about it again," she breathed into his neck, her words muffled and throaty, but still audible.

"I will," he answered softly, leaning his head down so it rested on hers. "I'll be here."

"I know you will."

* * *

**What did you think? A bit depressing, I know. Please R & R!**


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